


The Offering

by Lady_of_Haven



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon shifter, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Time Shifting, Full Moon, Going Home, Human Sacrifice, Kidnapping, Magical Tattoos, Mating Bites, Mating Moon, Mating Rituals, Menstruation reference, Mildly Dubious Consent, Minor Character Death, Offering, POV Rey (Star Wars), Rey doesn’t understand, Shifted Sex, Shifter AU, Spells & Enchantments, Superstition, Tags Contain Spoilers, Violence, equinox rituals, sharing memories, shifting during sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:08:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_Haven/pseuds/Lady_of_Haven
Summary: They have to carry her the rest of the way up the hill.At the crest is a large stone bowl, a stone altar and a tall stone pillar with a spike embedded at the top.“Sun’s going down, hurry it up,” one of the men whispers harshly to the others. They collectively lift her hands up, catching the shackles over the angled spike and let her hang, twisting against the pillar. In the bowl, they pour a cask of oil then set it ablaze with flint and steel.“Sun is almost down, Plutt,” another hisses and the group runs down the hill, disappearing from her sight.  The temperature drops quickly as the full moon rises and if not for the fire in the bowl, she would freeze.She struggles to escape. Her wrists are bloody from her exertions but she keeps trying, overlapping her hands to turn and face the pillar. She puts her feet on its face and walks up, trying to push the chain off the end of the spike. She pushes against the stone, rocking it closer and closer to the end. When she stops to rest, she slides back down, breathing hard.She tries again, and works it to the lip at the end of the spike and prepares to thrust when a strange cry echoes over the wind. Definitely an animal.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 49
Collections: 2021 Reylo MonsterLoving Valentines





	The Offering

The pit is cold and damp but at least they covered it to keep out the sun and rain. It’s been days since she was dropped down here, crying out why? She has no idea why she’s here. She doesn’t even live in the town, but the edge of the forest. She had been gathering herbs, the way Maz had taught her, taking them back to her small home to hang to dry.

It was hard to approach the house without tears coming to her eyes. Rey missed her so much, Maz’s cough had taken her over the winter. The old woman had been the closest thing she could remember to family. So she had been distracted and not noticed that the front door was open.

She had fought, but there were three of them and she was only a girl. They had dragged her to the town she avoided, on Maz’s word, and thrown her in this hole.

At first she thought they forgot her, they offered her no food or water. Then, she heard the angry voices yelling back and forth. A distinct woman’s voice telling them that the girl was innocent. The low response silenced the voice of all dissent, and she heard a child crying, but no more words in her defense.

The next day is hot and she barely listens to the sounds from above, too tired to call out. Memories surface: Maz finding her when she was drinking water from the stream. The winter that hit early, yet they still kept finding meat. How they would travel to the small inn at the base of the mountain to trade their herbs and tinctures twice a year, but only when there wasn't a moon. How at the equinoxes, Maz would insist that she stay hidden for days, going as far as to lock her up safely in the cellar on the full moon that followed. _Men do stupid things to ward off dangers they know nothing about, they can not be trusted._

The spring equinox… had it passed without her notice? 

She tries to stand, but three days without water has left her feeling lightheaded and her throat is parched. She lays on her back, looking at the slight fluttering of the cover over her hole and starts to drift. All of a sudden she’s blinded by light as a young man is lowered to pick her up and they are both raised together out into the fading light.

The women pull her away, pour buckets of cold water over her, then drape her in white. The three men put shackles on her tiny wrists. The fact that they fit and don't slip off let her know they had done this before. Still she struggles, when they attach the rope to the short chain between her wrist and pull her down the road. 

She screams. 

She kicks. 

She bites.

The one called Plutt backhands her for that and they have to carry her the rest of the way up the hill.

At the crest is a large stone bowl, a stone altar and a tall stone pillar with a spike embedded at the top.

“Sun’s going down, hurry it up,” one of the men whispers harshly to the others, as if to not draw attention to himself. They collectively lift her hands up, catching the shackles over the angled spike and let her hang, twisting against the pillar. In the bowl, they pour a cask of oil then set it ablaze with flint and steel.

“Sun is almost down, Plutt,” another hisses and the group runs down the hill, disappearing from her sight. The temperature drops quickly as the full moon rises and if not for the fire in the bowl, she would freeze. 

She struggles to escape. Her wrists are bloody from her exertions but she keeps trying, overlapping her hands to turn and face the pillar. She puts her feet on its face and walks up, trying to push the chain off the end of the spike. She pushes against the stone, rocking it closer and closer to the end. When she stops to rest, she slides back down, breathing hard.

She tries again, and works it to the lip at the end of the spike and prepares to thrust when a strange cry echoes over the wind. Definitely an animal.

She goes still, tilting her head to listen. The next sound is louder and there is rustling from the trees as it comes closer. She puts her feet back on the stone and walks up, edging the chain back to the lip.

A shadow rises on the pillar in front of her and she stills and goes limp, her breath getting knocked out of her as her back hits the stone.

If only it had been the impact that had stolen her breath.

On the altar is a beast, the fire behind him casting a large shadow that moves closer and closer. She whimpers and twists, shrinking back against the pillar.

The shadow jumps down circling her, mumbling incoherently and sniffing the air then it growls low in its throat.

She twists, pulls her feet up and pushes with everything she has, the chain slips off the end and she falls.

When she wakes, she’s warm. Her eyes register the light before she opens them and she has to use her hand to block the glow of the moon. She notices several things at once. 

The shackles have been removed and her wrists have been bandaged. There’s a tattoo of light that trails from the small crescents of her cuticles, down her long thin fingers, wrists and up her arm. She checks her other hand, flipping them both over to see the delicate patterns climb up both of her arms.

She realizes she’s on the altar, covered with a dark fur lined cloak and she pulls it around her shoulders to hide the marks on her arms. Her legs, once exposed, show the same pattern in the moonlight and she quickly covers them. 

She finds a pile of berries and a water skin on one corner of the altar and she reaches for them desperately. She starts with small sips that moisten her dry mouth, then tries a mouthful. When that stays down, she pops a berry into her mouth and moans. She’s so hungry. It’s as she eats that she looks down the hill to find a glow in the direction of the village.

“They should have never harmed you,” a deep voice says from behind her and she’s scanning the shadows looking for the source. “I am not going to hurt you, what is your name?”

Maz had warned her about giving her name away so she stays silent, tensing when a shadow moves up the hill in front of the moon. He shifts to stand behind the bowl, the fire’s fading light illuminating his face. Even in the dim light she can tell he’s handsome, tall with long dark hair, distinct facial features and broad shoulders. He appears to be dressed in only a light robe and pants, his chest bare to the cold night.

“Thank—-,” she coughs, her voice cracking from the day she spent yelling. She takes another drink, pausing when he smiles at the skin. “This yours?”

He makes a gesture of offering with his large hands. “Please, you are in need. My grandparents would never forgive me if I left one such as you in distress.”

 _He has a family._ She drinks deeply then mutters, “Thank you. It was fortunate you happened by…”

“Fortune has nothing to do with it, my grandfather always sends someone to release the offering.” He holds his hands over the bowl, warming them. “Those villagers are trespassing and they know it. They offer a girl every spring. Barbarians.”

She scoots off the altar, placing it between them as she waits for strength to return to her legs. “Trespassing?”

“Are you from the village?” His gaze narrows on her as she shakes her head.

“I live in the forest,” she stammers.

He’s around the bowl and coming towards her as she backs away until her back hits the pillar. “Maz is the only one who has been granted permission to live in the forest. My family owns all the land in the valley.”

He places his hands on the stone slab and leans over, trying to catch her eyes. “Are you the young one she’s been instructing on herbs?”

He turns to look back down the hill. “She missed her last delivery deadline, my grandmother is worried. Did they harm her?”

He’s strange, angry one moment and somber the next and Rey finds herself shaking her head no as he glances back over his shoulder. “They were afraid of her, we avoided them. She said fear makes men stupid.”

He laughs then looks above her head at the spike with a sneer. “This is not a place of sacrifice,” he says lifting two fingers and she feels the winds rise as the spike flies to his hand. “It’s a place of joining. The ancient symbols of male and female on each side of the altar.”

_A memory of Maz crushing the herbs in a stone bowl flashes before her eyes. “The bowl receives the offering we’ve used the blade to harvest. Remember Rey, both are needed. The Bowl and the Blade.”_

“Rey,” he whispers. “Your name is Rey.” He drops his robe and she’s distracted by the look of his wide chest and strong arms until the small diamond shaped marks press out of his skin and visibly turn over, revealing black scales that make his body expand and grow until he’s blocking out the moon. When the two giant wings unfurl, she runs for the forest desperate to lose him in the trees.

A strong downdraft hits her and she stumbles, releasing the cloak when it is pulled up hard. Pain erupts as the moonlight hits her skin causing it to glow. Raised teardrops push up as if trying to grasp the light. Still she runs, seeking a place to hide, from him and the moon.

_Where are you going, Rey? Why are you running? Surely you feel it?_

She’s just yards from the tree line when he lands in front of her, blocking her escape. She falls, scrambling backward back up the hill but rolls into a small depression. The relief is instantaneous, her skin returning to normal outside of the moon’s light.

 _You’ve never changed before._ The voice, his voice sounds astonished as she presses her hands to her ears, trying to stop the way it echoes in her head. “You should have changed the first moon after you bled.” His voice is human again and she opens her eyes to see him kneeling at her feet in the moonlight.

The moonlight that is slowly inching towards her as the moon climbs towards zenith. She shrinks back, suddenly more afraid of the moon than the man. Monster. Whatever he is.

“What’s happening?” Her skin ripples as if reaching for the encroaching light. “It hurts…”

His eyes darken and start to glow. “You are one of us. The humans should have never touched you. Let me help you, Rey. Please.”

A sense of calm rushes over her as his hand extends and she starts to reach, her fingers plunged into pain the moment they hit the light. At her cry, his wings arch over her, casting them both into shadow. 

“Your first shift doesn’t have to be painful, Rey.” He pulls her gently into his chest, then lifts her off the cold hard ground. “You are one of us. I would never let anything harm you. There aren’t many of us left.”

She’s so cold, her strength fades and leaves her trembling in his arms as he carries her, his chest her only source for warmth. “Cold.”

“I know, Rey. I’m keeping you from shifting. Are you going to let me help you?” 

He sits her down on the cold stone then holds out his hand, his cloak flies into it and he throws it around her shoulders. She leans into his chest with a whimper, her airways constricting. 

“Rey, I am going to change when the moon hits zenith, unless…” His face dips down, his lips capturing hers and she floods with warmth. Blissful warmth.

Memories play across her mind as she devours his mouth with lips, teeth and tongue.

_“Run, Rey. Run.” The voice of a woman as she runs through bushes, trees and over the white stones that litter the ground. She finds a stream and runs down the water to try and hide her scent like her father had taught her. The stream leads to a river and she grabs a hold of a log as the current carries her away. Alone._

_Wandering in a dark wood, getting sick on the green berries, munching on wild ramps, following a beaver to its home then following the stream that feeds it. Hunger. Fear. Alone._

_Then, a face… Maz._

_Food, fire, a bed, medicine in a tea. Sleep._

_Learning the forest, gathering and preparing the herbs, making tinctures. The Bowl and the Blade. Traveling by the new moon to the mountain, giving the herbs to a woman with long hair full of curls. Whispered discussions in urgent tones… protect… teach… can’t shift._

_Blood. Maz telling her that she’s now a woman… moon ceremony and the tea with the three passion-flower buds, the full moon nights after the equinox spent in the cellar._

_Maz’s cough and fever dreams. Delivery… Padme… go… go… Rey. Waking to find Maz gone, leaving her so alone._

_Trying to travel alone to the mountain, the river overflowing its banks. Fear, returning home. Alone. Making her own tea for the full moon and falling into a blissful sleep. Alone._

_Gathering herbs. Alone. The men in her house. The well. Alone. Tied to the pillar and left. Alone._

She screams, her talons digging into his shoulders.

“Not alone, Rey. Never alone again, I promise,” he moans into her ear as he folds back his wings, exposing them both to the moonlight and bites her neck.

Unfamiliar memories surface.

_The long haired woman crying in a man’s arms. “She’s never late, Ani. Maz missed the delivery.” The man trying to soothe her, “The melts have overflowed the river, she’ll make it next time the moon is dark.” The scene fades._

_A soldier approaching them at dinner, “My Lord, the humans have sounded the bell.” He’s dismissed quickly._

_The woman, full of concern, looks toward him, “Ben, I need you to go free the offering.”_

_“Padme, we normally just send a guard…” She’s in tears again and her husband draws her close. “Okay, sweetheart. Okay. We will send Ben.”_

Her eyes open, looking full into the moon. “Ben.” She feels him stiffen and he pulls back to look at her face. His pupils long slits in his dark eyes. “You know Padme?”

 _Yes._ He kisses her and the taste of her blood on his lips heats her further as the crawl on her skin returns, not in pain but bliss. He pulls her onto his lap, her gown pushed up over her hips as she grinds down onto his lap. He moans deep in his throat as she kisses down his neck, his hands gripping her hips to increase the friction against the front of his pants. 

She’s on the precipice of … something. Her whole body fills with the blinding light of the moon as it finally crests, illuminating all the stones on the hill. The bowl, the pillar, the altar and a ring of stones that surround the base, each individual stone sending a stream of light up into the night as ecstasy races through her and she bites down on his neck.

He roars, leaning back to press his hands behind him on the altar’s surface, keeping his weight off his wings as she drinks. 

“Rey, we are running out of time, sweetheart. Are you ready?” She stops and leans back to watch as his face breaks into a gentle smile. “There you are, can you feel her? Under your skin? Is she ready to come out?”

Rey closes her eyes as the next ripple rolls over her skin and she tries to draw a deep breath but she can’t get enough air. She’s lifted, turned and when her hands hit the altar, she only sees three digits, each ending in a talon. Scales are turning up her arms and the cry that escapes her throat comes out more like a series of chirps.

“It’s your wings that are going to be the hard part, let’s see if we can get them out,” he says as he rips her gown followed by a long tongue licking up her back. “Will you let me coax her out?”

Flesh meets her back and she arches back into him, another series of chirps escape as something hard pushes into her dripping slit and proceeds to slide back and forth.

She tries to arch forward, instinctually reaching for the alignment that will give her… something.

“No, Rey,” He growls in her ear and a whine emerges at the thought that he might not want her. “That’s not it, sweetheart. It’s the equinox moon, I have to earn you first.” His hips increase their pace, the ribs on his member rubbing her in just the right way to make her roar.

Her sight goes faceted, minute details registering quickly as she twists her neck back over her torso to look at her wings. He had been knocked back down the hill but he’s climbing back, his talons digging into the earth as his form shifts, growing massive.

The chirping escapes from her throat as her tail whips towards him in warning as her instincts rise. 

He is not yet worthy of her.

She takes a leap off the altar, spreading her wings to catch the updraft for the initial lift then beats her wings to climb high and fast. She can feel his pursuit, not a threat, more anticipatory as her eyes reveal to her the tides of the wind to aid her escape. 

It’s all so new and she needs time to revel in it, so she flies directly into her moon, the light caressing her scales giving her strength now that she’s taken to the air.

_Rey, the higher you go, there is less air. Be careful sweetheart._

She roars defiantly in response, looking down to watch as he climbs slowly in circles of her path, waiting… for her. She chuffs, folds her wings close to her body and dives at him and he angles away easily. She can feel a current growing along the scales of her neck and she unfurls her wings to catch it then banks to fly along the river. The raging waters are a mirror to the racing of her blood that’s driving her— somewhere and she can’t get there fast enough. The river forks ahead and when she tries to veer to the left, he’s there, herding her to the right. She snaps her teeth at him in irritation as he draws closer to hover over her and she twists then escapes the river to graze the treetops.

The moonlight illuminates the mountain and her memory pricks, “ _Rey, run.”_

This time she races towards the summit, not away, her wings beating hard against the current coming off the tall peak. She can see him in the corner of her eye at a higher altitude and to the right, scanning the forest for danger to keep them safe. She crests the lip and glides down to the bowl of the temple, shifting back into human as soon as her feet hit the ground. The familiar statue of two dragons with their necks entwined stands behind the altar, the bowl on the right and the pillar on the left.

“Mama,” she calls, heading to the private rooms cut into the mountain. She throws open the door, momentarily confused by the blue and golds scattered around the room that should be in varying shades of green.

“Ani, no.” The woman on the bed pulls her husband back, gripping his sword arm.

Rey turns and runs back to the open space and leaps up into the night, the cry ripping from her throat one of fear and mourning as she races away from the fact that she’s all alone.

_Never again, Rey._

She can’t see him but she can feel him near as she flies to outrace her pain. Her eyes scanning the horizon, looking for her mountain.

_You can’t go back, Rey. The humans are there now. Stay. Please. Stay with me._

Her pain turns to anger for all she’s lost and she roars out into the night as she spots him, turning on her tail to engage the bigger dragon with teeth and talon. He evades, barely, chuckling as he gives chase. She is smaller and quicker than him and pulls ahead, ducking around a large tree to dip down into a small valley.

She doesn’t even see him coming as he envelopes her from above, wrapping his neck and tail around hers as his arms and legs surround her above and below her wings. She folds in on herself and they both drop fast.

_Expand your wings, sweetheart. Let’s get safely to the ground._

It’s the ground that is rapidly approaching that convinces her to extend her wings, his large ones already slowing their descent, and they land easily in the soft grass.

 _Let me go,_ she thinks to him, trying to press away from the ground or roll away from his larger body. He eases up enough for her to breathe, his body undulating softly against hers as he chuffs.

 _Do you really want that, Rey? Are you going to leave me alone?_ He runs his neck along hers, nuzzling her with his snout.

Heat runs through her, she actually wants to be closer. A whine escapes her throat, _Ben, help me._

 _What do you need sweetheart?_ His body tightens around her as she pushes up into him. _If it’s me you want, all you have to do is lift your tail._

He growls when her tail flicks in response to his lurid suggestion and she can now feel his need coming off of him in waves, it’s so strong. She tilts one faceted eye to his and sees the same loneliness that haunts her in his dark depths. 

Rey lifts her tail and they both roar into the waning moonlight as he thrusts into her, the thick ridges tantalizing her open as the curve plunges into a spot that has her clawing the ground. The bulge at his base presses in, locking them together as his hands start to stroke the scales over her chest, soothing them down until suddenly they are skin to skin. His hands stroke down her back, this time to coax her wings back in and the moment they disappear, he’s flipping her to her back. He smiles at her, lowers his mouth to claim her lips for a kiss and strokes her hair back from her face as he settles between her thighs. 

“Ben,” she whispers as she wraps her legs around his hips, lifting up into his thrust. “That feels the same.” The ridges, curve and knot all hit the right places and her nails dig deep into his back as she kisses down his neck.

“We are not human, we just camouflage—“ he roars as her teeth sink into his neck and holds her close as his magic flows into her, marking her as his and his hips rail into her, chasing their mutual release.

Her arms wrap around his neck, pulling his head down to claim his lips in a violent kiss, but something is missing. “Ben, please,” she begs and his lips trail down to her neck. His bite ignites her orgasm and she feels each pulse of Ben’s as he pumps his seed deep with a groan.

He rolls, placing her on his chest as they catch their breath and her fingers trace the white lines now drawn on his skin. She sits up, both of them groaning around his still enlarged knot, and surveys the pattern.

“It’s a mating mark, you have painted me like I painted you,” he explains with a shy smile and he holds up his hand to show her his glowing white lines.

She looks down at her body at the dark swirls and flowers on her skin that end in dark moons on her cuticles, gasping when he sits up to kiss her softly. She lays her head against his shoulder with a yawn.

“Have you eaten,” he asks softly.

“You gave me berries, before that, nothing for the three days they had me in a pit.” She cuddles close to his chest as his arms tighten around her, holding her close until finally his knot relaxes enough to slip out with a rush of fluids. She cringes, embarrassed. “I’d kill for a bath.”

A tingling travels over her and she’s suddenly clean and wrapped in a soft red robe. He stands, cradling her in his arms. “Do you want to ride home or have me carry you?”

She starts to say fly but yawns so wide he simply states, “Carry it is.” He tucks her into his chest as his wings spread, lifting them both into the air. The scales of his chest are soft against her cheek and she feels like she’s floating as he glides on the currents back to his mountain home.

_Not my home, Rey. Ours. Our home._

She relaxes, happy at that thought as he starts to circle into land. He easily shifts back into human form, his black robe under her cheek as he carries her into their home.

His grandparents are waiting to welcome them.

“I’ll have food sent to your chambers later,” Anakin smirks at him with a wink, earning an elbow from his wife.

Padme approaches slowly, to gently touch Rey’s cheek. “Welcome home.”

Her mate bends just enough to kiss his grandmother’s forehead, then carries her to their chambers. 

He lays her gently in their bed, wraps himself around her and they fall asleep.  
  
  



End file.
